…with fun and healthy ideas for kids!

Super Bowl time in Chicago is synonymous with cold weather and heartier meals. If hosting a party at your place, here are a few versions of a hearty and healthy classic chili recipe that you can make ahead and keep warm until kickoff. The use of an all-natural slow cooker sauce made entirely of vegetables and seasonings speeds up prep time considerably. Using lean ground beef, turkey or all vegetables ensures a low-fat delicious meal! Take an extra 25% off Jesben Slow Cooker Sauces at Abe’s Market with code SNOWDAY until 2/1!

Note: If you prefer less heat or will be serving this to the little ones, chili powder can be reduced in any of these recipes by 1 tablespoon. On the other hand, if you like your chili hot, add a dash of hot sauce or cayenne pepper to taste. Also, feel free to get creative with your ingredients! I like to add squash or pumpkin puree to the chili once it has been in the slow cooker for about an hour. I have also added cocoa powder to give the chili a deeper taste.

If you have a little one between the ages of one and two, the inevitable discussion has ensued as to when you will put your child forward-facing in the car. My husband and I have been talking about this a lot lately, as our littlest guy is about to turn one in February.

Our youngest has been fairly big since about two months of age, and he outgrew the infant car seat right around nine months old. My husband and I failed to realize that the infant carseat weight limit was 20 lbs., and our little porker was 21 lbs. by the time we actually figured out that there was nothing wrong with the carseat, he was just chubby!

Parents decide to put their little ones forward-facing for a variety of reasons, including the following:

-child is at least one year old, average size, and absolutely HATES facing backward in the car

In our case, we had an extra convertible car seat from the older two kids that was bigger, so we put the baby in there, rear-facing. However, some parents may want to go right to the option of buying a forward-facing seat, and there are plenty of affordable and durable options. Here are five car seats that are highly rated from a variety of brands:

What do the reviews say? Extremely easy to install, nice materials; a little bulky.

All of the above car seats are available for purchase on Amazon (clickable links through the name of seat and the image). And, don’t forget that if you form a baby registry with Amazon, you receive 15% off all items not purchased 60 days from your baby’s due date (or 10% if you are not part of the Amazon Mom program).

I love Organic Valley, since it is one of the only brands that provides great quality organic products that we can find around here. They are giving away 100 samples a day of their new Organic Balance shakes– click here to enter. Even if you don’t win, you will still get a couple of nice coupons to use!

Do you buy organic dairy? If so, have you tried Organic Valley? Please comment below with your favorite organic dairy products– I am always on the lookout for new products to try! Thanks!

My kids would eat mac and cheese every night for dinner if I let them! I do allow them to indulge about once a week or every two weeks with some of this mac and cheese. I try to mix my hidden vegetable pureés in there too, so I don’t feel as guilty about giving them mac and cheese. This doesn’t have any of the junk that traditional mac and cheeses have, so I’m totally fine with letting the kids partake every once in a while.

Do you have a favorite Annie’s Homegrown snack or recipe? Please share in the comments below!

If you have been thinking about going organic or just love the idea of eating healthy and getting the best bang for your buck, you will want to check out the current deal that Living Social has going on right now! I just purchased a deal for $18 from Door to Door Organics, which includes a Bitty Box delivered to my door and $10 worth of organic groceries! (A Bitty Box is a select box of the freshest, organically grown produce from my area that changes on a weekly basis…delivered to my home…yay)! I hope this can help you on your way to healthy eating! Enjoy!

UPDATE: The above deal has expired, but I have been a customer of Door to Door Organics and have loved the variety of fresh produce that has been delivered to my home! It was such a treat, and I tried some veggies that I may not have normally tried if not for being in the box. Also, much of the produce that has been delivered has not been readily available at local supermarkets, so I have really gotten my money’s worth. Actually, if you are new to Door to Door Organics, you can try them out by going here–they usually have some sort of discount for first time customers. 🙂

If you are a teacher or work at a school, you are in luck! Today and tomorrow, Office Max is giving away a free reusable tote bag, stuffed with free samples and coupons! I went today and asked about my bag, and the gentleman working there kindly directed to me to my bag. He didn’t even ask for an i.d., but I told him where I taught! Anyway, my bag (which is a nice size; big enough for a quick grocery trip) came with a sample of 100 paper clips, labels for printing nametags, etc., a 2011-2012 planner (stuffed with coupons for every month of the year to use at Office Max-woohoo!), and a sample of notebook Post-its! I also picked up two boxes of the 1 cent crayons (24 ct. Schoolio brand) and two of the 1 cent wooden rulers! To top it off, I received a 20% off coupon for my entire purchase today, so I snagged a nice binder to organize all of my coupons in! What a deal!

I also made a trip to my local CVS today in order to get my coffee fix! They had a good deal there with the 11 or 12 oz. ground coffee variety being on sale for 6.49 a piece. To make the deal a little sweeter, I used the $3/2 11 or 12 oz. bagged Starbucks coffee coupon that I found in the July 17 SmartSource coupon insert in the Sunday paper. And, to top it off, I used $4 worth of Extra Care Bucks that I earned from my first purchase (a Revlon lip gloss on sale for $5.79 that I also had a coupon for {$1 off Revlon color cosmetic product from the July 17 SmartSource insert} and the Oral B Cross Action Battery toothbrush {also had a coupon for $3 off 1 Oral B battery toothbrush from the July 31 P&G coupon insert, so I ended up paying 1.99 for a normally $7 toothbrush}). Soooo….the final price for TWO bags of Starbucks ground coffee (12 oz. a piece) was $7.22 with tax!!! This is such a deal because these bags usually go for around $8.49! And, don’t forget that when you finish your bags of Starbucks coffee, take the empty bag to any participating Starbucks for a FREE tall brewed coffee! What a treat!

Hopefully, you can have some of the same luck I did…don’t forget, Office Max deal is over tomorrow and CVS should go until August 5!

UPDATE: The above deal is expired, but you should always keep an eye out for great deals at Office Max (especially if you are a teacher) and CVS! The type of deal listed above generally happens toward the end of each July at Office Max, and CVS is constantly having sales and deals when you can get steep discounts on everyday products. If you haven’t had a chance, go here to sign up for an Office Max Perks account and here to become a CVS ExtraCare member. Keep your eye out for deals!

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